Over the first third of the season, several Seahawks relievers have proven to be trustworthy. Roles have become defined and the hard-throwing arms have UNCW positioned to make another strong run through the CAA and into the postseason.

“We’re extremely confident,” senior reliever Jack Lane said. “Anybody in our bullpen comes out and does their job and gets our defense back in the dugout.”

Statistics confirm that statement. Without question, relief pitching is a prominent reason why the Seahawks have won 8 of 9 games and are 14-7 overall, 1-1 in the CAA entering this weekend’s visit from conference foe Georgia State.

Ricky Holden and Kelly Secrest anchored a strong bullpen last season and have continued down that path thus far.

Holden, a righthander, has a 1.32 earned run average in 13.2 innings with 15 strikeouts, in eight appearances. The lefty Secrest has a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings and 10 appearances. He’s fanned 20.

Both are dependable and versatile. They’re sturdy enough to pitch on consecutive days, can give the Seahawks three or four innings in the middle or at the end of a game, or can be used in a matchup situation to record one or two outs.

They were known commodities entering the season.

Yet, two other Seahawks have been just as impressive.

Lane, a towering presence at 6-foot-10, is flourishing as the one-batter matchup guy. The senior has a sidearm delivery that produces a sinking fastball that finds the strike zone consistently and generates groundball outs.

Lane has been dominant. Opposing batters are 2-for-18 (.111), and both hits were singles. He has a 1.42 ERA in 11 appearances and provides an emotional spark when he retires a batter to snuff out a potential rally.

“I’m known for getting pretty fired up at times during a game,” Lane said. “If it helps, I’m going to keep doing it I guess.”

Not everyone can handle that type of pressure, Scalf knows.

“Over the last couple of years, Jack’s been put in similar situations,” Scalf said. “He’s had success with it. He’s had a few failures with it. This year, the work he’s put in with Coach Woodard I think he feels real confident and comfortable with his delivery.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise is Justin Livengood. Praised by his teammates in the preseason as a clubhouse leader with a terrific sense of humor and upbeat attitude, Livengood is proving he’s no slouch on the mound either. He’s attracting interest from pro scouts with stuff that has struck out 18 batters in 9.2 innings.

That quartet has been rock solid. The Seahawks need freshman Will Shepley, the only lefty reliever besides Secrest, to shake off a rough start. They expect fireballing freshman Nick Monroe to perform better than his 9.00 ERA in six appearances thus far.